Materials

Author Posting. (c) Journal of Access Services, 2009.
This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of
'Journal of Access Services' for personal use, not for redistribution.
The definitive version was published in Journal of Access Services, Volume 6 Issue 1, January 2009.
doi:10.1080/15367960802301028 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15367960802301028)

Abstract

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) was established to enhance the accessibility
of Web resources for people with disabilities. In this article we argue that although
WAI's advocacy work has been very successful, the WAI approach is flawed.
Rather than WAI's emphasis on adoption of technical guidelines, the authors argue
that the priority should be for a user-focused approach, which embeds best practices
through the development of achievable policies and processes and which includes all
stakeholders in the process of maximizing accessibility. The article describes
a Tangram model, which provides a pluralistic approach to Web accessibility,
and provides case studies that illustrate use of this approach. The article describes
work that has informed the ideas in this article and plans for further work, including
an approach to advocacy and education that coins the term Accessibility 2.0 to
describe a renewed approach to accessibility, which builds on previous work but
prioritizes the importance of the user.